Customer Reviews

Boston - Greatest Hits

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

A compilation of greatest hits should be just that: greatest hits. Having stated that, now I'll contradict myself by thanking Boston for including "Higher Power" (both tracks)and an energized, well vibed "Star Spangled Banner/4th of July Reprise" on this CD. Both cuts are soothing nirvana for those of us who appreciate clean, powerful guitar rifts.

BOSTON - GREATEST HITS contains several of the band's most memorable hits, including "More Than A Feeling," "Don't Look Back," "Amanda," and several others. I'll respectfully disagree with another reviewer who lamented the inclusion of "Rock & Roll Band" on this album; to the contrary, this is one of the band's signature songs in terms of style, instrumentation, and energy. What I don't get is the inclusion of tracks that fall remarkably short when compared to the rest of the music on the CD--singles like "A Man I'll Never Be" and "Tell Me," the very first song.

Overall, BOSTON - GREATEST HITS will placate and please the band's legions of fans, but this must be said: if you really want to listen to Boston's "greatest hits," look no farther than the group's debut album, aptly titled "Boston."

Boston's Greatest Hits collects all the band's best and it is a tremendous group of songs. "More Than A Feeling", "Don't Look Back", "Long Time", "Cool The Engines", "Amanda" and the rest are FM rock radio staples and classic all. The new songs don't add anything to the mix (although the "Star Spangled Banner" is interesting), but the rest is pure cream. since the band only has four studio albums, I would suggest for a few extra bucks you buy their first three, Boston, Don't Look Back & Third stage (Their fourth, Walk On is not needed) and you will get the full scope of their guitar pyrotechnics and vocal histrionics.

I've been a Boston fan for 23 years. It's too bad that it took them so long to come out with a Greatest Hits album. The album is fine, but I personally think they missed quite a few classic cuts such as "Hitch A Ride", "Let Me Take You Home Tonight", "Can'tcha Say/Still In Love" and "We're Ready". Their fourth effort,"Walk On" didn't impress me much, which explains why G.H. contains only one song from that album "Livin' Without You". It's great to here Brad Delp's harmonious voice on "Higher Power".Fran Cosmo and David Sikes have good voices, but could never compare to Brad's. Tom Scholz has a creative twist on "The Star Spangled Banner/4th Of July Reprise". Little disappointed,but long live Boston!

Even something as simple as a Greatest Hits compilation takes time when Tom Scholz is involved. Originally scheduled for release to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of Boston's debut album, the project was pushed back nearly a year and became the first Boston album to feature computer generated artwork and a ship at rest. Given the wide availability of second hand copies of all of Boston's previous four albums, Scholz and Sony used three new songs as bait to lure in consumers who otherwise have no need to waste their money on a greatest hits package. "Tell Me" is a mid-tempo ballad written by Scholz and featuring David Sikes on lead vocals. The song has nothing to recommend it and had it been released previously would not have been on a greatest hits package, quite unlike Higher Power, a foot-tapping rocker that opens with a quiet guitar shuffle before blasting off with the chorus and finishing with guitar and harmonica solos. The third "previously unreleased" track was in fact circulating among Boston collectors for a number of years, a 1994 promo-only instrumental of the US national anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, added here most likely because there were no other finished tracks on Scholz's shelves. Equally useless and not likely to be listened to more than once is the album's final track, a radio edit of Higher Power. Altogether, this is an uninspired compilation and except for Higher Power is for the consumer a complete waste of time and money.

Boston was kicking booty in the 1970s and 80s, and if you were young then you were listening to their powerful guitar work and wonderful melodies. Boston hit the scene in 1975 with their first album, and they became one of the more influential bands. This, their greatest hits album, was released in 1997, and features some of their very best work.

Overall, I must say that I love this album! Except for the first two--Tell Me and Higher Power--these songs really take me back to the warm sunny days of my youth. It sure is easy to see how Boston has influenced the development of modern Rock, and for the better. I love this CD, and give it my highest recommendations!

Being a Boston fan from day one must have been very tough on the devoted. Tom Sholtz, guitarst, keyboardist, and a meticulous studio wizard that makes Mutt Lange recordings sound like Nirvana, worked at a snail's pace, taking almost 3 years to record their follow-up to their mega-hit debut, and calling that 'rushed'. It took 6 years each for the next two albums to be recorded and released, and by that time, Boston was basically Sholtz's solo project.

Through it all, as this cohesive collection shows, the sound remains the same, layered, harmonized, smooth, crisp. Best of Boston collects 5 songs from their debut, a few more each from Don't look Back and Third Stage, and one from the underrated '94 release, Walk On. It flows like a good album should, with some songs going right into the next just as they did on the original albums. Very few things are missing except notably, Hitch a Ride, but that would have placed too much reliance on their debut. Another song from Third Stage and Walk On would've also been nice, they're underrepresented here.

The new songs are considerably more problematic. Higher Power is a great song, bringing back original vocalist Brad Delp back into the mix, but two versions of it are unneccesary. The Sholtz-sung Tell Me is very weak, meandering, and uninteresting, and The Star Spangled Banner? What? Didn't Hendrix already do this? It should've been left in the history books. Removing the SSB and the second Higher Power would've cleared way for a couple more late-period songs that deserved it.

This collection serves as a fine introduction to Boston. None of the songs are edited as they sometimes are for radio play (especially Long Time, which is one of their best songs), and it chronicles the studio wizardry of Sholtz and the soaring vocals of Brad Delp (and the others) flawlessley. For the man who has to have everything, the new tracks are little enticement, except Higher Power. Buy this, then move on to buying Third Stage and Walk on if you're a completist, because there's more than enough of the first two albums already here.

Boston in my opinion is the greatest hard rock band ever. Boston's creator Tom Scholz is a modern day Shakespeare of Rock. The lyrics are beautiful poetry. Each song has its unique melody and composition providing an incredible emotional experience. I have listened to all four albums. The best and my favorite is Walk On. If you love hard rock mixed in with a few beautiful ballads, you have to listen to Boston. Highly recommend Greatest Hits for starter. But you will miss out so many great songs if you do not also obtain Boston's fourth album Walk ON (very underated and underappreciated by so many.) BTW, Tom Scholz has a master degree in engineering at MIT, that's why the man is a perfectionist and it shows through in the quality of Boston's music. Long live Boston !!!
Addendum: 3/28/07
Very sad to learn that Boston's Original Lead Vocalist Brad Delp who on March 9th, 2007 commited suicide. It's a huge loss for Boston fans. Brad Delp will forever be the greatest vocalist I have ever listened to. Rest in peace Bradley Delp. Your spirit lives on forever. You and Tom Scholz are my heroes.

don't get me wrong this is a great album but i'm only giving it 3 stars cause it could have been better. i think the tracks "tell me", "a man i'll never be", and "livin' for you" should have been replaced by "it's easy", "hitch a ride", and "something about you". the album should have been tracked as following (to me anyways):

1.) more than a feeling
2.) higher power
3.) peace of mind
4.) don't look back
5.) cool the engines
6.) amanda
7.) feelin' satisfied
8.) party
9.) foreplay / long time
10.) rock and roll band
11.) smokin'
12.) hitch a ride
13.) something about you
14.) it's easy
15.) the star spangled banner
16.) higher power (kalodner edit)

now that's a boston greatest hits album. how could they possibly forget "something about you". that's one of their greatest songs ever. if you liked or want this list of tracks i suggest buying the album "rock and roll band" and the "greatest hits album". then you can burn your own rendition of a greatest hits album. "rock and roll band" is a pretty cheap album also, so your not going to kill your wallet buying them both. i think i picked that album up at best buy for about $6.00.

Only 4 stars because what is the deal with this?: They didn't put Hitch a Ride on here which is on e of my favorite Boston songs and instead we get what: Higher Power? 2 versions? The song is all right and everything, but come on, this is the "Greatest Hits" after all! Put on more of the tried and true before adding new tracks to a collection like this. Anyway, this has some of the best music ever written, so kudos for that. Nothing's perfect, I guess.

I didn't really know Boston till about a year ago when my stepdad told me to borrow his Boston tapes. More Than A Feeling and Foreplay/Long Time became 2 of the best songs i've ever heard and i also liked some of the others like Amanda and Peace of Mind. So i bought their Greatest Hits. I listened to it and found out it wasn't that great, especially with the new songs (Higher Power is the only good one). But it does have all of the Boston songs that I liked except for Something About You. So to make it short, this is a good cd but if I could do it over, I would just get Boston's debut and the Don't Look Back album.